Issue 013
Welcome back to E&O Wednesdays, the enrollment-focused digital health newsletter from Exits & Outcomes — for paying subscribers only. This every-other-Wednesday issue digs into digital health companies that sell to self-insured employers as well as others that rely on enrollment-based distribution for their digital health programs.
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As Noom IPO murmurs start, here’s a look back at its recent annual revenue figures
This week Bloomberg reported that DTC weight loss app company Noom is talking to bankers about a possible IPO later this year or early next. According to the report, Noom also just landed some additional (but as yet undisclosed) funding from PE firm Silverlake.
Here’s the scoop from Bloomberg:
“The company has met with potential advisers to discuss an initial public offering that could happen this year or early next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information was private. Noom is aiming to be valued at around $10 billion when it goes public depending on market conditions, the people said.”
While Noom is still mostly a DTC company, company representatives have said they have inked deals with six pharmaceutical companies in recent years. Noom also began to more aggressively market to employers beginning at the end of 2020, as E&O reported in Issue 003 of this newsletter.
While it is almost certainly mostly consumer revenue, Noom has posted big numbers in recent years. Here’s the annual revenue for Noom that I’ve cobbled together. These are all from the company, which has shared them in various public forums (not estimates or calculations from E&O).
- 2020: $400 million.
- 2019: $237 million.
- 2018: $61 million.
- 2017: $12 million.
Bright Health bought Zipnosis for about $49M
OK, granted, Zipnosis is not technically relevant to this employer and enrollment-focused newsletter since the company mostly sold into healthcare systems. However, because this newsletter does frequently dig into the other well-known virtual visits companies, I’m going to include this brief analysis here.
If you recall, DTC health insurance startup Bright Health acquired Zipnosis at the end of March for an undisclosed sum.
E&O has learned that Zipnosis posted annual revenue between $5 million and $10 million prior to its acquisition.
According to one announcement put out by one of Zipnosis’s financial advisors, in 2020 the company “screened and treated more than 2 million patients.” However, none of the press reports about the acquisition included dollar amounts.
Here’s what I came up with after digging around:
- Bright Health paid about $49 million for Zipnosis in a mix of cash and stock.
- The cash portion of the payout likely ended up being just under $10 million.
It’s likely that there are additional earnout payments that could increase the ultimate price tag, but I wasn’t able to learn anything about them (if they do, in fact, exist).
F500 Digital Health Stack: McKesson
Digital health companies love to boast how many Fortune 500 customers they have. This recurring feature of E&O Wednesdays digs into a different Fortune 500’s digital health stack.
So far, in past Wednesdays issues, I’ve written about the digital health benefits stacks of 12 big companies: Walmart, Activision Blizzard, JP Morgan Chase, The Home Depot, Boeing, 3M, Chevron, BorgWarner, Bank of America, UnitedHealth Group, Costco, and eBay.
This week, I dug into the digital health benefits that McKesson offers its more than 75,000 employees and their dependents. Oddly, the company has no direct relationships with digital health companies focused on chronic disease management. It’s also the first big company I’ve dug into that offers an online community (exclusive to its employees) designed to let them share health tips.
Here’s a look at McKesson’s digital health benefits stack:
Benefits navigation
McKesson uses an HR platform called UPoint from Alight, which includes an app that employees and their families can use to navigate their benefits. Site
Telemedicine
McKesson works with four plan administrators to cover its employees across the US. These include Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and Anthem. McKesson encourages employees to talk to their plan administrator’s free nurse hotline before deciding on the best place to seek care, which might be telemedicine.
“Telemedicine is a convenient alternative to retail and urgent care clinics. It can save you time and money when you need help with non-emergency health concerns.”
McKesson employees on Aetna plans can use Teladoc. Those on Cigna can use MDLIVE. Anthem plan members have LiveHealth Online, which is powered by American Well. KP plan members are told:
“Email your doctor’s office. Telephone and video appointments available where and when appropriate.”
MSK
McKesson works with Contigo Health, a company that spun out of Premier in 2019, to develop a COE for employees in need of a hip or knee replacement. (This one isn’t a digital health benefit, but it seems to be what McKesson uses instead of one of the many digital health-enabled MSK startups.) Site
Learning, behavioral coaching for kids and adult dependents
McKesson offers employees and their families Rethink to help adults and children with developmental, behavioral, social or learning differences:
“Bring Out the Colors in Your Child’s Learning. If you care for a child or adult with developmental, behavioral, social or learning differences, Rethink is for you. At no cost to you, get one-on-one virtual coaching sessions with learning and behavior experts and 24/7 access to tools that can help you and your support team understand, teach and communicate better with your child.” Site
Mental health
McKesson’s EAP Resources for Living makes myStrength available to its employees. (myStrength is owned by Teladoc.) Here’s the pitch:
“myStrength — a Health Club for Your Mind myStrength is an online tool to help you manage stress, anxiety and chronic pain. Sign up to access: A daily mood tracker and personalized messages to keep you inspired, Guided meditations, Videos, articles and eLearning programs that fit your wellness goals.” Site
Stress
Much of McKesson’s digital health stack is connected to its rewards and incentives partner, Vitality. For stress reduction and meditation offerings, for example, McKesson employees can earn points via Vitality by using apps from Headspace, Calm, and Apple’s Breathe app. Site
Smoking cessation
Vitality is also McKesson’s provider for smoking cessation programs. It has two listed: Vitality’s own Living Smoke Free and United Healthcare’s Quit for Life. Site
Second opinions
Similarly, McKesson employees can earn points for using Best Doctors, which is owned by Teladoc. “What’s Best Doctors? Best Doctors provides expert second opinions and advice when you have questions about a diagnosis or treatment plan. Is it free? If you’re enrolled in a McKesson medical plan, you and your covered family members can use Best Doctors at no cost.” Site
Peer support
Here’s something I’ve yet to encounter while researching other big companies’ digital health stacks: a Yammer group for McKesson coworkers to discuss all things health and wellness. (Yammer is a Microsoft product.) I could see how this might make things awkward at work, but maybe McKesson is so big this sort of coworker-exclusive online community works? Here’s how they pitch it:
“What’s the McK Health FYI Yammer Group? The McK Health FYI Yammer group is an online community focused on health and wellness. It’s a great place to find health tips, get inspired, share words of encouragement, learn new recipes and connect with other health-minded coworkers.” Site
Chronic condition management
The biggest surprise: McKesson has no direct relationships with chronic disease management companies. McKesson relies on its wellness incentives partner Vitality to help its employees with weight loss and fitness goals. When it comes to chronic disease management, McKesson points employees to the programs on offer from their health plan administrators. Those are typically phone-based coaching powered by nurses.
Well, that’s a wrap on McKesson’s stack.
Some of these stacks are easier to figure out than others (so no promises), but let me know which company’s digital health benefits you’d like to learn more about by hitting reply to this email. And if you happen to work at a Fortune 500 company (and I know that’s a lot of you), then please send me your benefits information.
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